Conventional acoustic drums are generally comprised of a solid shell and one or two tunable membranes locked into an annular frame, generally referred to as a drumhead, which is tensioned over the shell.
To provide the proper tension to the drumhead, the shell has an arrangement of tensioning lugs attached to it, with threaded tension rods extending from the tensioning lugs. During installation, the drumhead with an annular frame is placed over the shell and a counter hoop, or rim, is placed over the annular frame. The tension rods engage the counter hoop and the tensioning lugs are tightened to stretch the drumhead membrane. By adjusting the torque of the tension rods within the tensioning lugs, the stretched drumhead membrane changes pitch.
More particularly, the tensioning lug, tension rod and counter hoop arrangement is a system that is designed to apply a stretching force to a drumhead, typically in a uniform manner, to stretch the drumhead membrane over the shell. By tightening the tensioning lugs, the tension rods pull on the counter hoop to tension the drumhead membrane thereby increasing the pitch when a striking force is applied to the drumhead membrane, i.e., by striking the drumhead membrane with a drumstick. Conversely, loosening the tensioning lugs permits the tension rods to release tension on the counter hoop thereby lowering the pitch of the drumhead membrane when a striking force is applied.
As such, the stretching of the drumhead membrane to the desired tension is what gives the drum its musical and playing characteristics when a striking force is applied, including pitch, stick rebound, etc. The tone of the drum and the stick rebound, usually referred to as the “feel” of the drum, are determined by such variables as the drumhead diameter, its tension and the thickness of the drumhead membrane.
More recently, electronic drum sets have become popular to create drum sounds without the typical size and acoustic volume of conventional musical drums. The electronic drums are generally formed of pads with sensors, to generate an electrical signal when a striking force is applied to the drum pad or head. The sensors are typically piezo sensors that output voltage to a computer module (typically referred to as a drum brain) that has stored sampled sounds. The processed signal is then amplified and sent to speakers, headphones or the like, allowing the drummer and/or listeners to hear the sounds generated during drumming. More sophisticated electronic drum sets include additional or more complex sensors that distinguish between differences in the amount of force used to strike the pad and the location of the force on the pad, in an effort to simulate the sounds generated by a conventional drum that differentiates between those and other factors.
The electronic drums permit a drummer to play in practice environments without the volumes associated with playing conventional drums, generating external volumes no louder than striking the pads, while listening to the sampled sounds through headphones. Additionally, it permits the signal to be amplified and sent to speakers for use in performance environments.
However, the range of sampled sounds provided by the computer module, and the processing of those sounds, are limited in the range of different sounds and tones. Moreover, the sounds created are manipulated to replicate the sounds of conventional acoustic drums, but lack the dynamic range and variations associated with acoustic drums. It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an acoustic/electronic drum assembly that produces lower volume acoustic signals that can be electronically picked up, processed and amplified. Moreover, this object of the invention would permit the user to adjust the sound and tonal characteristics of the electrical signals.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an acoustic/electronic drum assembly that maintains the feel of a conventional acoustic drum and preserve much of the sound and tonal characteristics, including the range of different sounds and tones, of a conventional acoustic drum. This includes maintaining the dynamic range of an acoustic drum, heretofore unavailable in an electronic drum.